Tea bag



Aug. 4, 1942. w. B. DOWNES TEA BAG- Filed March 12, 1941 Patented Aug. 4, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TEA BAG Wllber B. Downes, Sharon, Mass.

Application March 12, 1941, Serial No. 382,875

Claims. (Cl. 99-771) This invention relates to improvements in a steps of assembling the layers, stitching the tea tea package or tea bag or a similar package package and stamping out the tea package;

adapted to be immersed in hot water so as to pro- Fig. 13 is an elevation showing the tea packduce an infusion of the liquid from the material age prior to filling with tea; and

or substance contained in the package. 5 Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the It is an object of my invention to provide an steps of the method as shown in Fig. 12.

immersible tea package which may be placed The tea package disclosed in Figs. 1 to 6 comon and carried by an ordinary spoon which prises three layers of material l0, l2 and I4.

forms a holder for the package whereby the liq- The material forming the layers may be permeuid in the cup or other receptacle may be stirred able paper, fabric or other suitable material.

in the usual manner by the spoon to produce an The three layers are secured together by the line infusion of the liquid from the tea contained in g of stitching It or may be sucured together in the package carried by the spoon. any other desired manner so as to form a pocket It is a further object of my invention to prol8 between the layers l2 and i4 adapted to revide a tea package composed of layers of mate- 15 ceive the tea or other substance which would be rial permeable by liquid, the layers being secured adaptable for use in the same manner, and a together to form a closed pocket for the tea and pocket between the layers In and I2 adapted to provide an open pocket adapted to receive the to receive the bowl of a spoon. As shown in Figs. poon 1 and 3, the parts are cut to an elliptical shape It is a further object of my invention to pro- 20 corresponding to the bowl of a spoon. The layer vide a tea package that will be carried by a spoon l0, as shown in Fig. 3, extends from the bottom formed in an elliptical shape and provided with of the package to somewhat above the middle a tab portion which may be temporarily secured thereof and is there cut off at the straight edge to the handle of the spoon so as to securely hold portion 22. The pocket l8 which receives the the tea package on the spoon. tea 24 is closed by attaching a tab 26 such as by Further objects and advantages of my imthe staple fastener 28. The tab 26 may be made provements will be more readily apparent from of any suitable material such as paper, Cellophane the following description of a preferred embodior other material and is adapted to form a finment thereof as disclosed in the attached drawgel hold for placing the tea package on the spoon ing in which: 30 and removing it therefrom.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one form of the tea Fig. 5 illustrates the manner in which the tea package; package is assembled with respect to the bowl Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tea package; 30 of a spoon 32 having a handle portion 34. It

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the tea package taken is intended that the package should grip the from the opposite side from that shown in Fig. 1; 35 spoon fairly tightly and when the package be- Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken on the plane comes wet it will tend to cling to the spoon so indicated 44 in Fig. 1; that it will not drop off while the tea is being Fig. .5 is an elevation looking at the back of stirred. If it should be found desirable to prothe spoon to which the tea package has been atvide a more secure hold of the package on the tam d; spoon, the tab portion 26 may be provided with Fig. 6 is a cross-section taken on the plane the extensions 36 which may have included indicated 6-6 in Fig. 1; therein a bendable wire 38 so that the extensions Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view of a modified 36 may be bent around the stem of the spoon as form of tea package; rly wn in Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view showing the ap- The layer i4 of the tea package may be formed plication of the tea package of Fig. 7 to a spoon; with pleats 40 as shown in Fig. 6 so as to permit Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view showing a fur-. xpansion of the pocket as the tea swells when ther modification of the tea package and tab it es We therefor; Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate a modified construc- Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing the mantion in which the tab portion 42 is formed with ner of folding the outer layer of the tea package; pa r 0! cuate fin ers 44 surrounding the Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing the pening 46, so the tab may be snapped onto the manner of assembling the two layers which stem of the spoon 32 as shown in Fig. 8.

form the back of the package; Fig- 9 shows a further modification in which Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic view showing the a relatively long tab portion 48 is fastened to the tea package by a staple III, In this form, the long tab 48 may be held by the fingers against the handle of the spoon while the tea packet is v being stirred inthe tea. I

Figs. 10 to 14 illustrate a method of manufacture of the tea package. The layer II is formed with the pleats 40 as shown in Fig. 10. The pleated layer It is formed in the roll 52. A strip of material to form the layer l2 has temporarily glued thereto at spaced intervals the pieces I adapted to form the pocket zit for receiving the spoon, and the strip I! with the pieces l0 thereon is formed into a roll 54. The strips are fed from the roll as shown in Fig. 14 and the first operation is to apply the stitching I8 by the needle 56. The next operation is to stamp out the package in the elliptical shape by the stamping members 58. As shown in Fig. 12, a package has been stamped out from the opening 60. The package, after being stamped out, is shown in Fig. 13 and indicated 62. The pocket I8 may be then readily filled with the tea or other material, the pleated form of the layer It permitting opening of the mouth of the pocket to receive a filling member. After the packages have been filled the securing tab is attached by a staple or other form of attachment.

Instead of cutting and temporarily attaching the pieces ID to the strip l2, the layer l0 could be fed from a roll at a right angle to the feed of the strips l2 and H and the: package could be stamped out at the point where the three layers are sewed or secured together.

The material or substance contained in the package is preferably tea leaves, but cofi'ee, cocoa or other materials which infuse or dissolve when immersed into a liquid could be similarly packaged and applied to a spoon to be used in the same manner. The tea package or infusion package may be readily placed on the spoon by pulling on the tab 26 as the spoon is inserted in the open pocket 20. As illustrated, various means may be used to more securely hold the package on the spoon while in use but such means must permit ready separation of the package from the spoon after use. As disclosed, the fingers need only grasp the tab to remove the package from the spoon. The top of the package may be extended if desired so that the material which is used to form the tab does not become immersed in the liquid. The improved tea package enables obtaining the desired strength of the tea in a more convenient manner and is much more desirable than the old fashionedtea bag which is merely dropped into the cup of liquid, since unless the tea is stirred while infusion is taking place it cannot be ascertained whether the tea is getting too strong. With my package the tea is stirred while infusion is taking place and the spoon with the tea package may be immediately removed from the liquid when the desired strength of tea is obtained.

Iclaim:

1. A tea package comprising three layers of liquid permeable material two of which are secured together at the marginal edges to form a chamber adapted toretain the tea leaves, the third layer being attached at its side edges to the other layers, the chamber portion of the package being adapted to fit in the bowl of a spoon and to be retained on the spoon by the third layer extending over the back of the spoon.

2. A tea package substantially elliptical in shape comprising three layers, one of the outer layers being of liquid permeable material, all three of said layers being secured together at their marginal edges from the bottom of the packageup to a point beyond the middle, the outer permeable layer being secured to the middle layer at the top of the package to form a chamber adapted to retain the tea leaves, the top edge of the other of the outer layers being unse cured to the middle layer whereby a pocket is formed adapted to receive a spoon to carry the tea package. I

3. A tea package comprising a bag portion of flexible material adapted to retain tea leaves shaped to fit in the bowl of a conventional spoon, the neck of said bag having a pair of fiexible fingers adapted to engage the handle of the spoon to retain the tea package on the spoon whileinuse. I

4. A tea package comprising a bag portion adapted to retain the tea leaves shaped to fit the bowl of a spoon, a flap-attached to said bag portion adapted to extend over the back of the spoon, the neck of said bag portion being provided with additional means adapted to engage the handle of the spoon whereby the tea package is retained on the spoon while in use.

5. An infusion package adapted to be immersed in a liquid while carried by a conventional spoon comprising a closed bag portion containing material capable of being infused into the liquid, said bag portion having flexible liquid permeable walls, said bag portion having an oval shape adapted to fit into the bowl portion of a conventional spoon, and a flexible strip attached to the sides of said bag portion and arranged to extend over the back of the bowl of the spoon to hold the package on the spoon while immersed in the liquid.

WILBER B. DOWN'ES. 

